posted 10-02-2012 11:00 PM
The Charlotte Observer reports that original Space Task Group member Jack C. Heberlig passed away peacefully on August 17, 2012, at the age of 76.

Mr. Heberlig was one of the 35 engineers assigned in the Floyd L. Thompson memo of Nov 5, 1958, forming the Space Task Group, along with notable other members Bob Gilruth, Chris Kraft, Chuck Mathews, Jerome Hammack, et al. These engineers formed the core group for Project Mercury.

Among other notable accomplishments in his long career spanning Mercury through the Space Shuttle, Mr. Heberlig held the patent (along with Max Faget and Bill Bland) for the contoured couches used in Project Mercury. For those who have the Spacecraft Films Project Mercury set, an interview with Mr. Heberlig is used as the audio for the video section on these contoured couches.

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kr4mulaMember

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posted 10-05-2012 08:26 AM
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When I was working for the JSC Oral History Project, I tried to convince Mr. Heberlig many times to do an interview with us. Sadly, he was always putting it off and now it looks like he never got that chance. It seems a great piece of history from an important figure in spaceflight has been lost. Godspeed, Jack.